Bank Holiday Bonanza... Scott Kingsley

This entry was posted on 30th May, 2013

Bank Holiday Bonanza... Scott Kingsley

The Bank Holiday was approaching and I decided to brave the crowds and get down the lake, I was concerned it’d be busy and that I’d struggle to get on the fish, as the long weekend and nice weather all seems to draw anglers out in there hundreds!

To my surprise when I arrived at the lake, there was only about seven other anglers fishing, which was a right result, as it’s a fairly big water with many bay, channels and islands where you can tuck yourself away.

Doing the usual walk round, I revisited an area of the lake I was familiar with, an area where, over the past few weeks I’d fished and baited quite heavily. The area in question receives very little angling pressure as it’s the furthest walk from the car park; it’s lined with reeds and overhanging trees and the whole spot just screams carp, in fact big carp!

After barrowing round to the swim I wasn’t surprised to see lots of fish in the snags, and as I started to tackle up I started to grow in confidence! However I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, so I decided to fish a rod in the Back Bay, an area where I’d also caught from before.

There was one particular area I was looking for, so out came the marker rod, after a couple of quick chucks I soon found it, as the lead settled with a firm, hard donk, signaling gravel! I let the marker float rise to the surface and counted around six feet of water, perfect! Now it was just a case of baiting it and letting the CC Moore Meteor work its magic!

I wanted the fish to feed confidently on the spot before I introduced a rod, so I catapulted around two kilo’s of bait onto the clean gravel and left it to settle.

I fished the snag swim that night and for some reason only landed two Tench, this baffled me, as I knew there was Carp in the area, as I’d seen them just a few hours earlier! Maybe they just weren’t feeding!

Morning soon arrived and with that my opportunity to fish the Back Bay and the spots I’d baited around 12 hours earlier. Fresh hooklinks were added to all the rods, Gardner Covert Mugga’s in size 10 tied to 15lb Gardner Sink Skin, onto each hair went a glugged CC Moore Meteor Bottom bait tipped with a CC Moore Northern Special.

I then topped the spots up with around half a kilo of fresh bait, before introducing the rigs.

The whole day passed without incident and it wasn’t until early the next morning that the fish started to show, as just a dawn was breaking my Delkim went into meltdown! As soon as I connected with the fish I knew it was a decent one, it certainly weren’t no pasty!

The fish was very powerful and stayed deep, trying everything it could to find every snag and overhang within the bay. I wasn’t keen on letting the fish get the upper hand, and with steady pressure I managed to steer the fish back to open water and soon its shoulders broke the surface. On first glances it looked big, guessing weights and sizes in water is always deceptive, but it was definitely a high twenty and dare I say it, perhaps even a thirty!

After the initial scrap the fish eventually tired, and was soon in the mesh of my net. I secured the landing net and let the big girl rest in the edge, whilst I prepared the unhooking mat and weigh sling.

On the scales the mirror weighed in at 28.4lb, not quite a thirty but a right result! After a couple of quick pictures I slipped her back and got the rod back on the spot, another half kilo of baits were added to replenish the swim.

The fish really turned on and got stuck into the bait on offer, as throughout the session I managed another 3 fish, two of which weighed in over 20lb, one at 23lb 10oz, one at 23lb and another smaller one at 13lb 10oz.

I left the lake once again on a high and brimming with confidence, the light pre-baiting/resting the swim approach had worked a treat. It was also another case of big thumbs up to the CC Meteor Boilies and Gardner end tackle, which throughout this year has never let me down.



The Tackle Box… Fox Supa Brolly Gardner Covert Mugga Hooks CC Moore Northern Specials CC Moore Meteor Boilies ESP Leadcore